Horrific Rape & Murder of Teacher by 14 Year-Old Goes to Trial: ‘I Became the Teacher’

Two years ago, a 14 year-old boy followed his 24 year-old teacher into the bathroom and brutally raped her. Then he slit her throat with a box cutter. He stuffed her body into recycling barrel and took her body to the woods, where he sexually assaulted her again with a branch. Philip Chism is now 16 and will be tried as an adult for rape, murder and robbery. Since this is Massachusetts we are talking about, he won’t get the death penalty he so richly deserves. This young psychopath’s attorney and psychiatrist are going to have him plead insanity and play on the sympathy of the court because he is young. I fervently hope that effort fails. This kid deserves to die for what he did. So, anything he gets will never be enough, but he must not be allowed to skate on an insanity defense. He needs to never, ever see the light of day again. If he does, he’ll kill again. Of that, I have no doubt.

From the Daily Mail:

The 9th grader charged with raping and murdering his teacher has told police he turned on 24-year-old Colleen Ritzer when she ‘insulted’ him.

‘After she insulted me, that’s when I became the teacher,’ Philip Chism said omniously, according to court documents describing a taped police interview.

Chism, now 16, said Ritzer provoked the attack with a ‘trigger’ word, which he would not disclose.

He was 14 in the fall of 2013 when he allegedly raped Ritzer in a bathroom after algebra class then slit her throat with a box cutter.

Prosecutors claim he then dragged her body into the woods in a recycling barrel and placed a branch ‘sexually’ in her body.

Two years later, Chism is headed to trial as an adult on rape, robbery and murder charges. Jury selection begins on Wednesday in Essex Superior Court in Salem.

Chism’s lawyers plan to use a mental health defense, although they have not revealed specifics. His mother told police her son had been under stress following her divorce from his father and their move from Clarkson, Tennessee, to Danvers, a town of 26,000 about 25 miles north of Boston.

A student who was in Ritzer’s class with Chism said he was drawing in a notebook instead of taking notes on October 22, 2013.

‘She came over and said, “I didn’t know you draw,” and he said, “yes,” then later on, she said, “Can you stay after with me?”‘ Rania Rhaddaoui said two days after Ritzer’s body was found.

Another student who was in the classroom after school that day said she heard Ritzer and Chism talking.

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The student, whose name was blocked out in court documents, told police that when Ritzer mentioned Tennessee, Chism appeared ‘visibly upset.’ When Ritzer noticed his reaction, she changed the subject, but the student said Chism then began talking to himself.

Chism’s lawyers have retained, Dr. Richard Dudley Jr., a well-known forensic psychiatrist, to testify as an expert. Dudley has testified for a collection of high-profile defendants, including Joshua Komisarjevsky, one of two men convicted in the 2007 murders of a Connecticut woman and her two daughters; Brian Nichols, the Georgia man who killed a judge and three other people after escaping during his 2005 rape trial; and Colin Ferguson, the Long Island railroad shooter who killed six people and wounded 19 others in 1993.

Insanity defenses rarely succeed in Massachusetts, but some legal observers say Chism’s youth might make some jurors more willing to consider a mental health defense.

‘I would really think that youth is going to be a huge factor. Part of the argument would be that Chism couldn’t control whatever disease or defect he had,’ said Daniel Medwed, a law professor at Northeastern University.

‘I assume the defense will tie it into research on adolescent brain development, in particular, adolescents have a difficult time calculating the future and having a sense of the ramifications on their future lives.’

Prosecutors are expected to show the jury school surveillance video in which they say Chism is seen following Ritzer into a school bathroom, wearing gloves and a hood, then walking out of the bathroom alone 12 minutes later.

The video also shows Chism pulling a recycling barrel through the school and outside, according to search warrant documents filed in court. The barrel was found near Ritzer’s body. Authorities said she was sexually assaulted twice, once with a stick.

Chism was found hours later, walking along Route 1 in neighboring Topsfield. Police there found a box cutter with blood on it inside Chism’s backpack. During a pretrial hearing, an officer testified that when Chism was asked whose blood it was, he replied, ‘It’s the girl’s.’

Chism also had Ritzer’s identification, credit cards and a pair of women’s underwear in his backpack.

Prosecutors are expected to present that evidence to the jury, but they won’t be allowed to tell the jury about a confession he allegedly gave to Danvers police. Judge David Lowy ruled that Chism did not fully understand his constitutional rights before he spoke to them.

Not buying it. This kid knew enough to brutally rape and murder his teacher, but didn’t fully understand his constitutional rights? Yeah, right. I call bull crap. He wore gloves when he went after her; this was totally premeditated. This kid is a monster and he has a psychiatrist adept at representing demons on his side. Never let a murder go to waste… he stole her wallet and credit cards as well. He also took her underwear. He’s a sick piece of work. His attorneys are also going to blame his parent’s divorce for his mental breakdown. They are also screaming because of media coverage he can’t get a fair trial. Oh, boo hoo! You want fair? Execute him… that would be fair. I’m just relieved they are trying him as an adult. He graduated from being a sociopath to being a murderous psychotic. Now, he’s working at getting away with it. This is fodder for a horror flick.

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton is an editor and writer for Right Wing News. She owns and blogs at NoisyRoom.net. She is a Constitutional Conservative and NoisyRoom focuses on political and national issues of interest to the American public. Terresa is the editor at Trevor Loudon's site, New Zeal - trevorloudon.com. She also does research at KeyWiki.org. You can email Terresa here. NoisyRoom can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.